Figure 4. Chemogenetic Inhibition of Pnoc^CeA Neurons Reduces Palatable, Calorically Dense Food Intake.

(A)Schematic of CeA injection of viral Cre-dependent hM4D-mCherry receptor in Pnoc^IRES-Cre mice.

(B)Representative coronal section showing CeA-specific mCherry expression. Scale bar represents 1,000 μM.

(C)Ex vivo slice electrophysiological validation of hM4D function. Top: representative cell response to CNO bath application in current clamp mode is shown. Middle: representative cell response in current clamp mode to gradually increasing depolarizing current injection (rheobase) prior to and after CNO bath application is shown. Bottom: representative cell response in current clamp mode to increasing current steps is shown.

(D)1-h HFD consumption in home cage during first exposure to HFD following 3 mg/kg intraperitoneal (IP) CNO injection 30 min before. p = 0.0258. Timeline of experiment depicted above where numbers indicate hours is shown. Bar graphs are from 1 h (highlighted time point).

(E)Later exposure to HFD in combination with cage bedding change. p = 0.0310.

(F)1-h chow consumption following food deprivation and IP CNO. p = 0.7356.

(G)Fruit loop consumption during post-test home cage portion of novelty-induced suppression of feeding assay. p = 0.0089. For (D)–(G), data were analyzed using an unpaired Student’s t test, where *p < 0.05 and ** p <0.01.

For all panels, n = 10 Cre+ and 11 Cre– animals.